A Double-Edged Sword: Price per word.

Please don't move this post into Off Topic forum, because content writers don't have their category on this forum, and copywriters complain when you "invade" their territory with anything that isn't strictly copywriting related. Thank you. 

Why is the price per word a double-edged sword for any content writer? Well, I don't know how copywriters charge for their services per hour or project, but we content writers have serious problems with it. You need to have some kind of an orientation, don't you? So, even if I say I charge X dollars per hour, I get this question from a client: how many words you can write in an hour? Seriously? 

That's only the beginning of content writing troubles. It's a thin line between content writing and fluffy writing when you're supposed to get paid according to the number of words you deliver. Right? No matter how hard you try, the temptations of the fluffy writing are too strong to resist. Now, you may say, but I'm not willing to compromise. I promise to deliver the quality content with no fluffiness at all. That's great, but this means that you have to have a good price for your work. If a client wants to pay, then it's OK. 

On the other side, if you aren't willing to accept to work on a per word basis, then how are you supposed to orientate yourself while working? Are you going to charge per page? Then, how many words an average page should have? You say, I charge X dollars per page. Then, here comes a client who says, why don't you write me a page with 10K words. It sounds ridiculous, but rest assured, it's quite a realistic scenario. 

OK, there are clients who would say, just give me some quality content for my web page or campaign. I don't care how many words you're going to write. I just want them to sound right and give me what I want. Well, I have to say, good luck with that too. Why? Then, you are going to write and write as long as the client isn't fully satisfied with the work. And, here's a kind reminder. Who is the sole judge or your content quality? Well, the client himself. 

This situation with the price per word will inevitably lead to the only remaining scenario where content writers are going to sell their services and words per kilo, just like you're doing with apples or oranges. It's quite easy to criticize, but I would really like to hear what are the healthy alternatives, you're willing to offer and share. It isn't a funny thing being a content writer. Whichever option you're to choose, you're very likely to lose, more or less, this way or another. 

So, what are your suggestions and ideas how to solve this double-edged sword problem for content writers? With or without price per word, they have to do their work. The clients, on the other hand, have to have some kind of an orientation, how much your work is going to cost eventually. This is supposed to be a fair deal for both parties. Right?

All-In-One: Social Marketing Strategies

Here are my tips:

1.) Keyword = Social. Please remember that this is not a one way, "I'm gonna shove information and sales copy down your throat like a duck about to become foie gras" place. Social networks are a place for two-way communication and your success will soar if you keep this in mind and build a reputation for yourself as a part of the community, and not a leech.

2.) Play both sides of the field. While you're busy providing good information, take a small amount of time to also see what other experts are sharing information and thank them for their insight.

This is called networking, and you can build a good rapport in the niche for possible future JVs. I've seen some dummies who act as if they're being knocked off the mountain, so they attack a competitor rather than shimmy up beside him and stand at the top together. Remember - his list could be HUGE and he might be open to letting you have a swap if you play your cards right.

3.) Be mindful of the rules of the network and stop trying to game the system. Whether it's trying to get a topic to squeak by the filters or using tons of bots to do the work for you, it's my personal belief that your results will be better if you're above the board and genuine in what you do on web 2.0 sites.

4.) Give value before you market to the people. Freebies go a long way with consumers. Put together a one week (7 page) autoresponder series or a 5 page viral report. If the site is niche specific, contact the owner and see if they'd like to share the freebie with the members. Think of it like this - would I rather put a link in my sig file to a free report and hope everyone sees it, or would I rather Allen Says endorse it with a top-of-the-screen notification? It doesn't hurt to ask the forum owner or web 2.0 site owner.

5.) On sites that allow marketing, don't create your typical sales page. For instance, Squidoo allows open marketing. But instead of a sales letter, write good articles and use the modules to mix in the buying opportunities (ie: a StickyNote module with a hyperlink to an opt in freebie where you convert them to a buyer).

6.) On the sites that have some form of higher recognition, go for it for added credibility. On the WF, newcomers often look at post count or how long a member has been here or how many times they've been thanked to determine whose opinion matters. On Squidoo, Giant Squids get preferential treatment and are also looked up to as experts, whether or not they are. Anything to give you an edge is worth pursuing (ie: My Twitter avatar is animated and you wouldn't believe how many people followed me because of that and later email me to tell me they did that and then went to my site, knowing nothing about IM at all, but building interest through my link).

Use the know-how and experience you have now, and tell the newbies how to legitimately generate $400 a month online in 90-120 days.

When it comes to making real money online (the kind that can help pay your bills and the like), you really have to focus on learning a long-term business strategy. Once you lay a solid foundation, it will grow over time. Niche blogging (the review-site model used in conjunction with affiliate marketing) is by far the most common and least expensive ways to go. I like it because of the residual aspect - put up content once but continue to profit (due to the search engines).

Because of the time of year, there are lots and lots of products coming out, which translates into opportunities to get your foot in the door. For example, they've had a lot of stuff on Yahoo trends. You know if people are looking for these things now, they are going to be looking for this (and more) and the holidays approach. Here are some examples:

sennheiser headphones
galaxy note 4
ipad mini
samsung galaxy s6
cargo pants
converse shoes
running shoes
nike kids' shoes
kids' clothes
bed-side lamps
full-length mirrors
master lock
coffee pods
microwaves
vitamix blender...

This is just some of the stuff you'll find on there as of late. Some are wider niches that you can break down more, and others are for specific products. When promoting stuff like this, it's also a good idea to cross promote stuff to make your commissions big and what not.

While niche blogging is my preferred method, you can also do things like Kindle or get paid as a ghostwriter or as someone who publishes content to sites in exchange for cash or open a PLR store and so on. The method you choose to get paid by depends on what you're into.

The Biggest Problem For Newbies In Make Money Online Niche

The truth is, if you're just getting started in Internet Marketing, the reason you're here to begin with is.... you're either tired of working for someone else, or...you just plain NEED money, right?

So, why in the world would you try to make money selling stuff about how to make money if you've never actually made any money in the make money online niche?

You shouldn't!

Plain and simple.

I'll tell you what, though, there are TONS of ways to make money online without having already made money online.

• You don't need a list
• You don't need jv partners
• You don't need your own website
• You don't need to be a world class copywriter

Shit...

You don't even need to have made your own products.

The warrior forum is one small slice of making money online and the only reason I post here is because I know I can find a ton of folks that my skillset can support and help.

I've been where you are.

I know how frustrating it can be to not be where you want to be.

The truth is, you don't need to fake it to make it online.

It IS a strategy....but it doesn't have to be yours.

Besides...

Lying to people requires you to perpetually lie to people.

What I think you're really looking for are ways to legitimately make money from the internet without doing stupid surveys, without lying to people and without taking forever to get started.

Believe me, there are a ton of ways to do this.

For me, my initial breakthrough was helping local small businesses with their online marketing.

That quickly led me down other paths that I simply tried my hand at and guess what happened....

Sometimes...

I failed.

But, other times...

I won...

Big time.

The bottom line was, I was always willing to try and DO!

That's what you need to do.

Stop asking others "Do you think doing [whatever it is you're too scared to attempt to do] will work?"

Stop asking for other, unqualified, opinions.

Make attempts.

Put buy buttons out there.

Make offers.

Help others.

Address problems.

Do it consistently.

Be persistent.

Every day.

Small successes lead to big wins.

I hope that helps.

How to Get More Prospects to Open Your Emails

When you offer a free book or report in exchange for email addresses, you need to remember that people opted in because they were interested in that specific topic. If you continue sending them exciting information on that topic your will develop a loyal and eager following.

But if you're sending them emails on totally unrelated topics that they're not interested in, or worse you are all over the place in regards to content, then your list is going to ignore you because you're not giving them what they want.

You have to cultivate and nurture your email list. Just because someone gives you their email for a free video or report doesn't mean they are now obligated to open every email you send them or open even one of the emails you send them.

Most people get hundreds of emails every day, they're not going to open every one. They're only going to open the ones that interest them.

So to increase your odds you need to make sure your headlines are targeted and laser focused on what your list is interested in. Your headlines need to immediately catch their eye, cause their blood to pulse, their heart to skip a beat.

Email marketing is extremely competitive. And when you're first starting out you need to earn your list's trust and readership so that they will eventually buy from you.

Now if you are writing dynamic, targeted, mind-blowingly awesome emails and they're still not being opened then you need to look at whether your emails are going to your prospects or if they're being sent into spam jail.

You also need to ensure that your prospects understand what they are signing up for and that they don't think they're just getting something for free.

Once the prospect has given you their email address take them automatically to a new page that explains what is going to happen now. Remind them that they are signed up to your newsletter or tips list. Tell them how often you send and when to expect your emails to arrive.

Explain what continued value they will enjoy from following your list, what special offers, secret blog posts that only subscribers get, early bird specials, etc.

Tell them to expect a confirmation/double opt-in email soon, give them the from name you used and even the email title, and suggest they check their spam box or promotions tab if they use gmail.

Suggest that they add your address to their address book or that they whitelist you, give instructions on how to do this.

Have all of this in your welcome email/confirmation email, as well. But it's important to have it on your site, too, in case they never get the confirmation email.

One more tip is to make sure that your from address is recognizable. It needs to be either your website/company name or your personal/avatar name. If it says "special Offer" of "Get Books Free" or something like that it looks spammy and deserves to be deleted.

Value and relevancy, like everywhere else is always the key to being successful in any type of selling and marketing. So make your emails valuable, interesting, focused, and clear. Make sure your prospects know when to expect these emails and if you do a good job of making them excited to read them they will purposely look for them.

They won't put in the effort though if you don't put in the effort first.

150+ websites making $6-$100 per day. You Can Do This Too. My Online Business Strategy

I have been marketing online for over 3 years now quite successfully. I am also a much sought after IM consultant.

The #1 question I get from prospective clients is, "What methods would you teach me in order to make money online?", or something of that nature.

Although I teach several methods to generate different income streams, my favorite method involves simple website creation using WordPress in conjunction with affiliate marketing to monetize.

My methods aren't anything new per se, but over the last several years I have perfected it in such a way as to maximize the benefits regarding organic search engine traffic and high conversions.

It's not uncommon for my sites to get 5000+ hits per month! And it's all free traffic!

I currently have 150+ websites that are making anywhere from $6 to $100 per day, I have about 4 that do $100 a day, the rest are all over the board.

Anyway... I wanted to share my basic business model here...

First and most importantly, the general idea is to produce a mini-authority website of 20+ pages that is optimized for 20+ keywords (including your main page and domain name keyword.)

The websites will have the pages listed on the left hand side of the site and all will link to internal pages. Each of the pages are, in and of themselves, researched keywords that will rank on the first page of the search engines and each garnish it's own share of organic traffic.

First you find a niche.

Then you start doing the keyword research.

The main keyword (for the main page as well as your domain name) needs to be relatively general.

Example:

Niche - Tattoos

Main Page (and domain name) Keyword - Masculine Tattoos

Internal Pages "Alternate Keywords" (listed on the left hand side of the website) - Tribal Arm Tattoos, Back Tattoos, Rib Tattoos, etc.

Using your favorite keyword research tool, the keywords MUST have at least 800 searches per month (exact match) and have manageable competition within the search engines. Let's just say 30,000 results or less (in Google) when searched for in quotes.

I build websites using WordPress (Wordpress.org.) I do this because quite simply, it's easier than building a static web page and it's much simpler to teach as well as implement.

When I build a site, I use a theme that has a left column sidebar and set it up to look like a regular website as opposed to a blog. For example, I take out page tabs, any unnecessary widgets, etc.

I then create a page to use as my main page (utilizing an already researched keyword that I will also use as my domain name.)

I go into the dashboard of the blog and under "Settings", I choose "Reading." Then I pick the page I just created to be a "static page" and my front page.

This allows a single post or page to be displayed as opposed to many posts like a blog has.

As you find your keywords, you will then create pages that will be clickable links using anchor text HTML within text widgets to be placed in the left sidebar of the site.

Once you create your site, you should have a very clean and basic website that has 20+ pages of content, that is linked to with keyword links on the left hand side of the page that are visible to your visitor no matter what page they happen to be visiting on your site.

All my websites are ranked #1 through #5 for all their target keywords (pages included.) 85%+ of my traffic comes directly from Google. The rest comes from people and or online entities who have linked to my sites.

My Website Qualities:

* They all target 5-10 different products per site.

* I recommend both informational products (ex: ClickBank products), and physical products (ex: Amazon, E-bay.) There are pros and cons for each. Informational products require more of a pre-sell, so in order to be more persuasive, your content needs to be at least 500 to 750 words per page. Physical products (tangible items) are great because you don't have to say as much and the competition is usually more manageable.

In building these sites, my goal is to be #1 in Google. In fact the power of this system is that all of the pages within your site have the ability to be #1 in Google, so you can only imagine what type of traffic and conversions that brings with it.

*Note - When done properly, 10% or more of your pages will rank on the first page of Google without you doing anything extra at all. I have found however, to get to #1 for everything, backlinking is key.

In the beginning, I wrote all of the content for my sites, and my backlinking (if needed.) At this point, I outsource almost all of my work in order to spend more time driving my businesses forward.

My online business strategy is an awesome business model that really works (To the tune of six figures annually for me.)

One great thing about this model, is that for the cost of one domain name (usually about $10 per year), and the cost of hosting (roughly $14 per month), you can set this business up.

*Note - Get a hosting company that allows unlimited add-on domains so that you can build more sites by just buying more domain names only.

Unless you pay for outsourcing, those are your only costs besides your time investment.

The sky is the limit!

As time permits, I will respond to any questions you post to this thread.

List Building Tips - What Is A J.V. Giveaway Event?

Perhaps you have heard about J.V. Giveaway events but never really understood them or what they are. In this article I am going to explain what a J.V. Giveaway event is and how you can benefit from using them.

A J.V. Giveaway event is an event used by Internet marketers who want to grow their list. They want to add new subscribers to their list. So they join the giveaway as a Joint Venture partner. Joint Venture is what the J.V. stands for. So, really it is a Joint Venture Giveaway.

A J.V. Giveaway event is organised and run by an Internet marketer usually using a script which manages the event for them. They advertise, usually by emailing to their lists of other marketers who are also interested in growing their own lists.

These Internet marketers then join the J.V. Giveaway event as J.V. partners. They submit their squeeze page to the giveaway event. This squeeze page will usually offer a free gift. Some large J.V. Giveaway events can have hundreds of J.V. Partners.

At a set date in the future, usually two or three weeks after the J.V. Giveaway has opened to J.V. partners, the event will open to ordinary members. Each J.V. Partner is expected to promote the event when it opens to ordinary members, by emailing their list.

When ordinary members join the event they must first sign up to the giveaway event itself, so the event organizer gets the most opt-ins. When the members download a free gift, they have to join the email list of each J.V. Partner who has provided the free gift, so the J.V. Partners grow their list too.

Most J.V. Giveaways also offer the option of upgrading your account so that you can submit multiple free gifts, multiple text ads and also special offers.

J.V. Giveaways are really like a giant ad swap. It is not unusual to see over 1000 members join some of the larger events to download free gifts. So, if you are into list building, don’t ignore J.V. Giveaways as a great way to add fresh subscribers to your list.